1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever engaging type connector in which a male connector is engaged with a female connector, by rotating a lever mounted on the male connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for the purpose of engaging a male connector and a female connector respectively having multiple terminals with each other, a lever engaging type connector in which a lever is used to reduce an operating force for engagement has been employed (Reference should be made to Patent Document 1).
The lever engaging type connector as described above is shown in FIG. 18. A lever engaging type connector 100 as shown in FIG. 18 includes a male connector 121, a lever 122 of which a center part is rotatably attached to boss parts 127 on both side faces 125 of the male connector 121, and a female connector 123 having an engaging space into which the male connector 121 is inserted.
The lever 122 has a pair of side plates 128 adapted to be superposed on both the side faces 125 of the male connector 121, and an operating part 129 that interconnects other end parts of a pair of these side plates 128. Each of the side plates 128 has a hole for positioning the boss part 127 provided at its center part, a pivot projection 130 acting as a pivot, when the lever is rotated, and provided at its one end side, and a temporarily locking piece 138 provided at a lower end at the other end side. In an initial stage of engagement, this temporarily locking piece 138 is positioned more remote from the female connector 123 than a temporarily locking protuberance 137 which is protruded from the side face of the male connector 121, thereby to make the lever 122 unable to rotate toward the female connector 123.
The female connector 123 includes a female type connector housing 132 having the above-described engaging space. Inner walls of this connector housing 132 which define the engaging space are provided with pivot projection guiding grooves 134 extending from upper ends of the inner walls deep into the engaging space, and pivot projection receiving grooves 135 respectively continued from the pivot projection guiding grooves 134 and extending in a direction intersecting the pivot projection guiding grooves 134, and releasing plate parts 139.
The pivot projection receiving grooves 135 act as the grooves for positioning the pivot projections 130 when the lever 122 is rotated, and for utilizing the pivot projections 130 as the pivot of the lever 122.
As the male connector 121 is brought near the female connector 123, the releasing plate parts 139 enter inside the temporarily locking pieces 138 to flex the temporarily locking pieces 138 outward, thereby allowing the temporarily locking pieces 138 to overpass the temporarily locking protuberances 137 toward the female connector 123.
In the lever engaging type connector 100 as described above, the pivot projections 130 are passed through the pivot projection guiding grooves 134, and then, positioned inside the pivot projection receiving grooves 135. In this state, the operating part 129 is pressed toward the female connector 123 and the lever 122 is allowed to rotate, whereby the male connector 121 is pushed deep into the engaging space to be engaged with the female connector 123, by utilizing the pivot projections 130 as the pivot, and by utilizing the holes for positioning the boss parts 127 as a point of action. Moreover, when the pivot projections 130 are positioned in the pivot projection receiving grooves 135, the releasing plate parts 139 enter inside the temporarily locking pieces 138 thereby allowing the temporarily locking pieces 138 to overpass the temporarily locking protuberances 137 toward the female connector 123. In this manner, the unrotatable state of the lever 122 is released.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2000-91026
In the conventional lever engaging type connector 100 as described above has the following problems to be solved.
Specifically, when the lever 122 is operated to rotate, after it has been released from the unrotatable state, the male connector 121 is inclined in such a manner that the operating part side of the connector 121 slightly floats up from the female connector 123. As the reason for this phenomenon, it is considered that with the rotation of the lever 122 caused by utilizing the aforesaid pivot projections 130 as the pivot and the aforesaid holes for positioning the boss parts 127 as the point of action, an external force in a vertical direction to be directed to the female connector 123 is not exerted on the male connector 121, but an external force in a direction deviated from the vertical direction, which is perpendicular to a line segment interconnecting the pivot and the point of action, is exerted on the male connector 121. As the results, the male connector 121 cannot be rapidly positioned in parallel with the female connector 123, even in the final stage of the rotating operation of the lever 122. Therefore, female terminals and male terminals of the respective connectors 121, 123 will not be engaged with each other in a coaxial direction, but will be gradually engaged in an intersecting direction at the beginning, and later, in the coaxial direction with a large frictional resistance. Consequently, smooth engagement between the female terminals and the male terminals is not performed, and the rotating operation of the lever 122 becomes heavy, incurring abrasion of the terminals. Moreover, because the operating part side (the opposite side to the side of the pivot projection 130) of the male connector 121 floats up from the female connector 123 as described above, an engaging amount of the male terminals with respect to the female terminals is small at the operating part side, while the engaging amount is large at the pivot projection side. In short, there has been such inconvenience that a depth of contact between a pair of the terminals is different between the operating part side and the pivot projection side, and hence, the rotating operation becomes further heavy.
Moreover, there has been such inconvenience that even after the rotation of the lever 122 has been completed, and connection (engagement) between the female connector 123 and the male connector 121 has been achieved, a backlash may occur between the male connector 121 and the lever 122, due to a clearance which is required for positioning the pivot projections 130 of the lever 122 with respect to the pivot projection receiving grooves 135 of the female connector 123, and besides, a clearance which is required for assembling the male connector 121, the lever 122 and the female connector 123.